It was a very special day.

Humphrey put in some early morning hours at the new house, working on the floors, but also tidying up. He was getting the place readied for curious family to have a walk through later in the day with us. Or if not today, then tomorrow at lunch time during a break. In either case, he wanted to be sure the area was clear of loose nails, dust and debris... a double check, because as a fact Humphrey always took care to work neat and clean.

When he got back, he made two batches of brownies and set them to cool. One for the family birthday party in the evening, and the second, special no-chocolate blondies just for us (*cacao a no-no for dogs ;) and Humphrey knows treats are always bested when shared with a friend. And who better than me?!

Humphrey and I worked a bit on the house, pulling up more linoleum (in the full bath). He had discovered something earlier this morning and showed me in the room directly across with a grand reveal:

"Ta-dah! Look at this Geo Beane!" gesturing into the room with the sloped ceiling and golden wall sconce.

And below I see: Pine boards. Beautiful 6" planks of solid pine. That's what was hiding under the subfloor. Humphrey had gotten frustrated this morning with scraping the odd gunk that was in this little room on the East side of the house. The subfloor was so warped on the left that it would require either pulling up or precarious hammering down. If it would stay flat. He ventured to pull it up little bit to peak under... and then! Too good to be true? but no! indeed, true. A beautiful floor. So up went the particle board. The pine planks were painted somewhat arbitrarily, as if someone had painted around some large rectangular object almost dead center. A gray green stain that extends into the closet partially as well.

"We'll paint the floor green, Beanie. to even it out. Gawd, I love this room... it's my favorite in the whole house! ...I wish this were my office studio instead of the guest room..."

"Rrwaugh! Wyouf... Ggou..noa!?"

"You're right, Geo. Why not? why by Goodness not? the room at the top of the stairs is good enough as a spare bedroom, and why, why! should this one wait around only for guests...?" and then he was pleased to pieces. To put himself centered as such. I was so glad! For both of us. I could just picture myself sunning and dreaming in the light of the big window as he did his drawing, reading, and writing...

Humphrey was so thrilled that he ordered a housewarming present for me on his phone on the spot... to arrive in a few weeks. A black and yellow batman racecar bed. ...I think maybe he was living out a private dream, in this, but nevertheless, I can't wait to see it! It looked great on the screen.

His aunt and uncle telephoned and arrived shortly after, delighted with all the "quirky" architectural details; the attic; the swinging folding door in the master suite; the grand corridors; and finesse in the staircase... They were visiting from Chicago and had a 100+ year old house themselves, which they were painstakingly improving on over the years, so they offered Humphrey much helpful advice in and around the house. They even helped him identify some of the plants outside, like the Buckthorn, the Privet and the Catalpa.

Then, we all dusted off and went back to the cabins to celebrate Humphrey's, his uncle's and his cousin's birthdays all in one big family bash of smiles and photographs.

Early in the morning, Humphrey drove me to Felton, thirty minutes away to the cabins at Song lake where his Momma, Grandmom, Aunts, Uncles, nieces and nephews were already waiting.

He had harnessed me up for formal company and now gave my lead to his Momma who was sure to pamper her Sweetie all day. Dropping my go-bag on the kitchen counter, Humphrey gave all his goodbye hugs and kisses to everyone in one quick turnaround.

"Goodbye, honey, come back for dinner with us," she said looking up at him with a cautious hopeful smile as he gave her hand an extra squeeze of apologies, and leaned down to give her a light kiss on the cheek.

"I'll be back soon, Beanieboo. Be good," tickling my ear and patting my muzzle, confidentially. Humphrey was all business in his work clothes, hopping into the car, with his mind on the reno, and getting this project done, asap. I knew what it meant as the familiar engine revved.

Soon he became the size of a gnat buzzing up the winding road out of the sleepy little beach resort, the gray SUV sparkling till out of sight. It was going to be a long day...

But I was the dolly. My Pomeranian antics and grin won everyone over, romping around from cabin to cabin, visiting, and strolling along the beach, rolling and digging in the sand with Momma. It was a silver day, too cool for the water, though comfortable and not rainy at all. We enjoyed exploring, then took an extended nap in the afternoon, with more chatting and laughing into the evening...

No Humphrey though. I had a feeling he would keep at it till he had gotten through to some next phase. And though there was talk of having dinner and even putting up a couch for us overnight, it was so not Humphrey. And sure enough, when he pulled in late and dust-covered we took leave, in his sincerest regrets and promises that tomorrow, "we'll drop in again and stay for visit."

The family was anxious to see the new place, understandably; and understandably, Humphrey wanted it to be a little more ready.

"Well, Beans, seems like the fam will be dropping in tomorrow."

It was a very overcast day, with rain in spurts and we were grateful for it because we were in a drought. Grass and soil were visibly parched, though the trees still looked vibrantly green. I watched through the glass of Mrs. B.'s bay seat nook as Humphrey took off in the SUV, taking a moment to roll down his driver side window despite the downfall, to wave to me.

That morning he had gone over his itinerary with me, having already completed his TikTok and set it on scheduled release for 12:30pm:

"Geo, it's dark and humid. Not ideal for painting or varnishing. That means I'll be starting with pulling up the remainder of the carpeting and driving it to the dumpster. As the day gets lighter, and hopefully clears up a bit, I'll continue the painting of the walls upstairs..."

Humphrey returned very late and very paint splattered, but with a grin.

"We did it, Boo. Not a shred of carpet left in the house. The entire upstairs is under at least one coat of paint; most walls have already two or three. We are on track to have the next bedroom floor scraped and varnished tomorrow.

But you," he said looking at me very, very intently, "are going to the Beach!"

Snuphff. sigh.

And he proceeded to pack up my travel things: a harness, collar and leash; water and food bowls, my travel mat for sleep, my pookie doll for company, and some dog treats... while whistling Moon River and smiling like Andy Williams.

...It meant that I, instead of going to Mrs. B.'s tomorrow, am going to the cabins to visit with Humphrey's family (aunts, uncles, cousins, parents, grandparents...).

"Don't worry, Geo Beane. I will meet up with you after putting in a full day's work on the renovation. We want to be sure that we keep a steady pace, so that we can start moving furniture in this weekend!"

wmrrfph.

Storms were hovering in the air today.

Once again, I suspected the worst. But no...

Humphrey packed us both up and we went together to the reno site.

"Rain is coming, Beans and we have to cut these weeds. The vines are climbing up the side of the house already, and if we don't tackle them now, tomorrow with the watering it will be a jungle out front."

My Humphrey has a way of exaggerating, but I was thrilled to not be left behind, even if it meant potentially being tied up again on the back stoop.

"Geo, since we're out together I'm trusting you to stay put here On the Grass. Got it? You stay On the Grass. And I'm cutting the grass and shrubs over here... Where I can see you!"

he said, wagging that finger again and walking off with the cordless weed-wacker that he had presciently charged overnight.

The thing makes a lot of noise and whirl, and while it got most of the job done, it was out of charge before completion of the entire side yard. It's a corner lot, and when Humphrey had said "out front" he simply meant the part that shows. In any case the actual "front" of the house was still looking good from when we had trimmed the hedges before actually closing on the property, so no worries if it didn't get a touch up this time.

"Hey! Coolbeans!! look at this!!" I bounded over to have a look and inquisitively peered at Humphrey's face trying to figure out what it was in the bushes that was so fascinating. I had seen an empty nest, no squirrels, no chipmunks... so what could it be???

"Not one, but two Lilac trees!" wow he was being generous. Humphrey pointed to one puny twig with three or four heart shaped leaves, and then to another equally feeble-looking compatriot with bifurcated trunk and maybe five leaves between the two.

"Guess the previous owners didn't know what they had out here. We're lucky Geo that they didn't cut these down... though really doesn't look like much pruning was done recently..."

"Aarrff!! wrarrff!! woo!" Humphrey was so delighted at this find and so was I. He had promised to get me a Lilac as soon as we got things settled inside and were actually moved in. He had also said something about planting a fruit tree this year.

"No worries, Boo. I will still get you a Lilac of our own. You can help me pick it out. We've no idea if these here are white, pink or purple!"

It started to rain, and we headed inside for some clean up. It wasn't a good day for varnishing or painting, but Humphrey slipped away during the day to still nibble away at these tasks.

There had a been a threat of going to visit relatives vacationing nearby. "At the cabins," Humphrey had said. But with the continued threat of thunderstorm, we spent a night in playing games instead at the old place. It didn't actually rain much at all, but we had a little outage in the internet or something and Humphrey was upset that he couldn't reach his favorite site online. Otherwise, it was a calm and quiet night.

Saturday was almost a loss.

Humphrey knew he couldn't have me with him in the house. Too much afore mentioned hazards. He needed to put down at least one coat of varnish on the floor that he had exposed yesterday to seal in the golden-ochre-colored dust. Mrs. B. was still in Washington, DC. In fact, she would be away all weekend. I could tell what was ahead, at least in part...

"Beanieboo, there's nothing I can do. You wait here, and I am going to put in an hour or two to seal the floor."

The good news was that once dry, it would be possible for me to go back to the renovation site and see all the work that Humphrey had put in since my exile. The place was starting to feel more and more like a home as we pulled out traces of the prior owners. When I say traces, let me be more specific.

In the afternoon, Humphrey was again golden as his word. He put in some work at the office on his upcoming TikTok and other work projects, and then stole us over to the house for the remainder of the afternoon. Our task was to pull up more rug. Humphrey was cutting. An arduous task involving regular utility scissors with orange handles. Small cut after small cut, which I could see scraping into Humphrey's hands.

Mwrrgh. He didn't know it yet, but I could already scent that he was going to have blisters. I sniffled my wet nose into his wrist to remind him to slow down. This in between scouring the clues in the scene. I didn't find too many traces of Nick, but Amber, was a very messy girl. There were traces of her everywhere.

When we first started work on site, I was too polite to mention. I suppose I thought they might be back or something to make amends... In the kitchen, there was left over trash in the waste bin. Most notably a bag of frozen cauliflower. Yes, cauliflower; and it smelled revolting. But more than this, Amber had left used, used, sanitary napkins strown about, not only in this garbage can, but on the property outside. Had there not also been unused opened tampons on the windowsills, I would have thought to myself it must have been some passing stranger that had so grossly littered, cause who would foul up their own yard?!

But there were more Amber leftovers. Upstairs, there where she slept, she shed all sorts of parts of her true/ artificial self. There were acrylic fingernails. Used acrylic fingernails. Peeled. Not many, but two or three, isolated. One in the hall. One in the closet of the smallest bedroom...

In the presumably Master Bedroom, she left her eyes.

Gross. I mean, she left her used contact lenses in the carpet. Maybe they had fallen out and she had looked desperately on all fours to find them... but could not and so cried herself to sleep on their final night... But I doubt that. And fortunately, there were no used condoms left from her and Nick. Somehow, I picture Amber lying in bed, without concern for Nick or anyone in the world, and ejecting the sliver disks of bluish gel out of each eye and flinging these onto the carpet. For the "next time" somebody vacuums... which obviously wouldn't be for a while.

There were also remnants of the cat. Quite a tidy creature, despite his associates. I imagine that the stray pieces of kibble that I was finding in the edges of the carpeting had gotten there by Amber's sloppy serving, rather than by the Tiger's poor eating habits. The cat was obviously hungry, and gray in color, as the fur was blending in excellently with the silver carpet and to be honest there really wasn't all that much of it, so Tiger was also an admirable self-groomer. Unless Nick was taking care of the cat upon himself... maybe, but I doubt, judging by the dog mess. The dog, our fearsome Gunther, had left his calling card all over the place by way of urine and vomit "accidents."

Humphrey was generous and let me help as best I could with rolling up the slices of rug he was cutting. I prodded it along between his arms as he leaned over and pushed it all into a tight cylinder and then carried each piece out into the hall.

"Let's call it quits, Beanie. My back is killing me," said Humphrey.

Hmwgh. mwrrh. Poor Humphrey! I would be sure to massage his back tonight by walking over it with gentle paws.

Today Humphrey did something unconscionable.

First, he took us on a whirlwind tour of the house in progress. It was looking Palatial-- a veritable Versailles by doghouse or any common standards.

Holding me tight under his armpit, he told me, "No," this; and "No," that; and "Dangerous," was the word used to describe everything "you see here... Beanie."

"Geo. This house right now is a Giant Boobie Trap. Got it? No safe spaces. Nails. Spikes. Dust. Fiber Particles. Wet Paint. Varnish. Do you Hear Me??"

And then, he plopped me into a plastic trash bag, with three openings (for forearms, and head).

"A smock, Beanieboo."

wrrugh?

And he tied me to the front stoop baluster. Tied Me to the Front Stoop!

"Mrs. B. is on a trip to DC to protest Prime Minister Narenda Modi's visit to Washington-- So."

So, this? Humphrey waved his hand gesturing at the rug that was partially curling and pulling up off the front steps.

Well, except for the indignity of the unnecessary leash, which I understand is for the limitations of Humphrey's humanoid peace of mind, I liked the task before me.

"The carpeting has to go, Geo. It's a safety hazard and an eye sore." And off he disappeared into the Danger Zone inside, waving to me with his index finger from the rectangular window.

So I had at it, with tooth and claw. "Grrrh... Rrwahh!!" Till I had shred as much as one small Pomeranian can.

My Humphrey was delighted with these efforts.

"Well done, Beans!! Look at you, so industrious and clever a girl. I could hardly budge that rugging myself. You've made short work of it."

In truth, I had fun. I imagined the gray fur as an imaginary sparring partner, as stand in for Gunther. I tackled my Fears, and I won.

"I wish I could take you back in for a looksee, Geo B, but we'll have to wait," said Humphrey hauling several 3' long rolls of cut old carpet into the car, and then dusting off the muscles of his upper arms.

"We struck gold again!" he said shutting the trunk and opening up the side door. He ducked back into the kitchen. It took a moment, and presumably he returned from upstairs, with two large garbage bags packed full of shredded under carpet (the stuff beneath the wall-to-wall carpet that is made of many fragments of fabric and fiber compresses in to half inch padding).

"The floor in the bedrooms is ochre colored!! I won't need to stain it at all. With the coats of varnish, it will look as golden as the downstairs floors."

"Aarf!! arff!!" I cheered.

"Whatever was originally down before the carpet left residual traces of yellow foam. Potentially hazardous as is, Beans, for the respiratory but once I seal it in, it will be a beautiful relic of history. The place is starting to look like a N.Y. C. loft.

With that he disappeared and promptly reappeared with two more big bags of the torn fibers, and stuffed them into the back seat of the SUV. My gray rug scraps he clumped into his hands and took directly to our outdoor trash bin. Then he ran in again and reemerged with thin but long spikey looking stick weapons. Nails sticking out from both sides.

"Furring strips, Geo. For holding the carpet at the edge of the walls."

Finally, he released my leash and pulled the smocking off me. I wanted to lick his hands in gratitude, but he held me off---

"Beans, NO-- dust particles. Who knows what kind of lead and asbestos in a house 123 years old. "

We went home to brush and shower.

I had a nightmare.

We were on a mission to Menard's, Humphrey and I, and we were being chased by a Moose strapped into a go-car. The dream was precipitated by something Humphrey told me about as we curled up to sleep.

You'll recall that after yesterday's scare with the brown spectacled dog and Willie rattling at the door, Humphrey was trying to tell me something about his new schemes for redoing the bathrooms. I couldn't well pay attention at the time, but my mind is like a tape recorder, and I replayed the conversation for myself later when my anxiety from the episode had calmed down.

Humphrey had gone out to return to the house to pick up the surprise he had gotten for me. He bought the thing when he went to buy more paint the other day. When he was in the store, he described the most curious thing. A small go-car was moving down the aisle. From a distance, he thought it looked like a street sweeper. A sort of over sized indoor Roomba. Except this Roomba had a seat on it, and in the seat was a stuffie. A stuffie in the shape of a moose, which when it got close to him said:

"Hi! I'm the Menard Moose, your Automated Store Sales Associate. What may I assist you with today?"

Humphrey had half a mind to ask a deeply philosophical question, but he thought better of creating a potential short in the circuitry and remained quiet.

"Thanks goodness Geo B, that you weren't there because you probably would have given chase to the machine and pounced on the faux furred Moose."

It would have certainly been hard to resist and not sound an alarm... so instead of me chasing the cleaner, I ended up with nightmares, of me being chased by moose associate and machine...

But returning to my Humphrey, he was saying he wanted more gold in the bathrooms! That was what he was trying to tell me. He had decided that the full bath floor would be stained with the metal effect paint, and the downstairs half bath would get a special treatment. The surprise he had picked out for me was a packet of special gold dust, that you mix into any can of paint to get a subtle shimmer effect on the wall.

"It will be a little while before we see any Bling. First things first we need to finish getting a couple of plain white coats down on the walls and once the wall is painted upstairs, then we can pull up the broken and breaking linoleum and paint and varnish!"

With so much shine and sheen, from the floors to the ceiling, we certainly need now to get that front door fixed. And I'm nervous about the old locks, and the exact number of keys the priors might have had or still have. The realtor gave us two originals... but of course there maybe duplicates... so now I am trying to convince Humphrey to buy new gold door locks for the back and front.

"Rrgh.. mrrh.. wruff!!"

Mnrrgh.

Humphrey left me alone at the new house today.

"Gosh darn it, Geo Beane I forgot something important at home," he said patting his shirt pockets and pants pockets to confirm. Note, we don't yet call this place "home." Home is of course where you rest your head at night.

"Sit tight, and no mischief," said Humphrey giving me the evil eye, and pointer finger, I can't imagine why. My stomach turned at the sight of him pulling out of the carport, down the short concrete drive, in our silver SUV.

I patrolled the downstairs. I checked on the progress of the floors. Really beautiful. Humphrey did a fantastic job with the gold stain, which now shone subtly at certain angles. He had gotten down two coats of varnish that added depth to the tone of the humble particle board. It was a satin finish, so the sheen was soft to the sight, but polished.

I could see that he had not yet painted the half bath downstairs. In fact, except for the ceiling in the foyer, he had not painted down here at all. I skipped up the long green stairs to see how the rest of the renovation was going. It was going very well. He even had started pulling up some of the carpet. The long hallway was almost fully painted, though I could see where he was struggling with ceiling... two bedrooms walls were done... the full bath was well underway although the ceiling was not yet touched, the walls needed just one more coat...

Rattle. Chink. Tap. Rattle. Crr...!!

My heart near stopped and my short little legs wobbled under me. That was not my Humphrey returning. That was the sound of somebody trying to get at the front door, which we never use as entry/ exit. You know, the one with the feeble sheet of 1/8" glass, just ready to be shattered and broken into...

I jelloed to the top of the stairwell. There was no one at the door as far as I could see.

Maybe the open windows are playing stereo games with me? I tiptoed to the windows on the street side. Raised myself on hind feet and peered out cautiously leaning on the ledge. Nothing. I became keenly aware that our Drummer boy next door had stopped playing. I couldn't recall how long ago. I wondered suddenly just how alone am I in this neighborhood where there is nobody that I know??? It was too soon to expect Humphrey.

Tap. Tap. tap. rattle. Rattle. . .

By now I was of course picturing Gunther, returning to his old haunts to instill the fear of Dog into residents old and new. I slide back to the top landing and crouched down. There was a medium sized brown dog, with circle patches around his eyes that made him look spectacled.

Ugh had he sent his messenger?! There was no way I was going down. I was going to stay right up here until Humphrey came back and shooed the mutt off. I'm a Pomeranian, any old lady could carry me off in a handbag. Easily. A ruffian like this could break me in three, and run amuck inside the house, ruining all of Humphrey's hard work.

But then, there he was, my Humphrey, opening up the front door chatting with Willie and his harmless dog about how to fix this dangerous door. And Willie was rattling his measuring tape and making notes. I near fainted but heard their chatter.

"I think I can fix this. We'll check some options. Frame it better. Maybe I got a thicker piece of glass to fit."

"Thanks so much Willie. Really appreciate you, man."

"No problem. Will be in touch." Quick salut and he drove off in his black sedan.

"Beanieboo, have I got a SURPRISE for you!"

mrrrphfew...

"I was thinking this morning about how to redo this bathroom..."

...but I wasn't ready to listen and slid down on all wobbly fours at his feet, resting my nose for a moment on his loafers.

Humphrey had been all a buzz this morning, singing and humming to himself. I thought maybe we were going to the beach? but no.

"Geo Beans, we are finally doing the floors!"

I thought we had been "doing the floors" the whole time, so I turned my head and gave him my most skeptical and bewildered look.

"I'm staining the den, then we're varnishing that and the front hall. First, though I'll be painting the ceiling there gold to cover the brown chips in the ceiling panels. We'll need some rollers and brushes..."

That sounded all very exciting, and I trailed around after him, wagging my tail and giving Wruffs! of encouragement.

"Beanie."

Hmh?

"You know you're going to Mrs. B.'s right? it just won't do to get you, or your hairs, stuck in the finish. And I have to spray the pests in the windows. Too dangerous."

Ah he had noted and remembered. My Humphrey has such an astounding memory and ability to effortlessly pick out details when you think nobody is looking...

When he returned, after 7pm, Humphrey was covered with gold leafing, the splatters of the paint glittering on his forearms and forehead, and smeared a bit on his jeans and T. He was very satisfied. And I was too happy to see him to be annoyed that he had had his fun without me.

"Couple more coats of varnish will do us. And we need to keep at it with the walls. I'll need to pick up more white tomorrow, so we can continue down the hallway upstairs and begin the downstairs... What did you do today, Beanieboo? Mrs. B. says you all went to the store."

We did indeed, we walked. We passed by a few furry pals. One black dog said to me:

"Hiya, did you know Nick?"

"Who's Nick?"

"The Human that used to live in your new place."

"No; with Amber?" ...I had run across that name on some papers in the kitchen. I reckoned the priors were not much esteemed on account of their messiness, as I could judge for myself, and by the faux handmade greeting card I dug up from behind the fridge that read "F-You to the residents at this address #." It gave me the creeps, but Humphrey had laughed it off. Said it couldn't be anything serious, if they had taken the trouble to keep it instead of tossing it out right away.

"Yeah. He was real nice. But their dog, Gunther-- he was mean."

Rrr... that got me second guessing about the front door. I could see that it had been busted. The former owners had done a shabby repair job, and the new flimsy glass wobbled like an invitation to house robbers.

I thought somebody had an ill feeling for the humans... now I was picturing Gunther tearing through the door... glass shattering as he sprung to the neighborhood outside, snarling with blood hounding eyes.

The pace of work on the house had dwindled to a drawl and I was starting to pine after the days of just hanging around Humphrey's feet at the office.

He had some major project. Some deadline. Shudder. And so, the morning and part of the afternoon were indeed spent in our apartment with Humphrey distractedly contemplating this word or that? which chart or graph? a picture or not? and so many other decisions that required hunting about the shelves and in archives online that I was hardly given passing glance.

And I, I began to make a nuisance of myself. I whined to go in. I whined to go out. I brought my leash. I nudged my bowl of water, full but now emptied, because I myself had preemptively dumped it out...

"Rrrgh..."

"Almost, almost."

Finally, Humphrey hit the send button and the draft became final.

"For whatever it's worth, Beans," he said, and I could see he was not pleased with the results of his efforts. Sigh.

I thought for sure now we'd take a break for ourselves, but no, Humphrey had other plans.

"Nose to the grindstone, Geo Beankin. We have to get cracking on the new place, or we'll never get moved in."

Mrs. B. was taking Bonnie to her cousin's Bat Mitzvah so there was no going over to romp in the neighbor's yard for me today, and I was glad.

Humphrey grabbed me unceremoniously under the belly and into the car along with a couple bottles of water and we were off.

"It's important to stay hydrated. You have no idea how dehydrating coffee actually is, and you know I've been running on the stuff. It's time to replenish with pure cool Spring Water."

I closed my eyes tight and braced myself on the seat. I wiggled towards the driver seat. I wanted to go to The Park. To Play. With Humphrey snfffl,

Humphrey, though, was determined to scrape the floors for the rest of the day. I decided then to make the best of it. I pushed the scraper around while he did some detailing with a knife. (After removing the wall-to-wall carpeting, the subfloor was found to be patched with a black tar like glue to which linoleum had previously been stuck, remnants of which were evidenced in the far corners in a drab olive-green mottled hue.) In some parts the goo was very thick, and it took a lot to get it all off.

Getting nowhere with the scraper, myself, I chewed Humphrey's shoelaces, until he scolded me. When he sat on the floor, I shimmied into his lap and licked his face, and he sent me chasing after an empty water bottle. Then, I attacked the other bottle with equal zeal till it burst open and spilled all over the hardwood...!

"Geo!"

But with just a quick toss of a hand towel, he was back at his scraping on all fours. So, what to do? I went to sit on the window seat where I watched four hornets building a nest with white eggs inside the frame of the window in the music room. I wondered how Humphrey was ever going to manage to shoot the spray he usually uses into that top corner sandwiched between the glass... I tried to draw his attention with some cautious whining. The wasps were big. Definitely not yellow jackets.

"Arrgh haru.."

"That's it, Beanie. That is the last of it," putting down the scraper and the knife, dusting the black particles off his hands and knees, and reaching for the broomstick. He hadn't noticed the swarm yet. He was now reaching for the vacuum cleaner and pulling up the fine dust.

"Tomorrow we'll throw open all the windows and varnish this floor!"

He still hadn't noticed the hornets...